SPOILERS

“No Normal”

The finale for the first season of Ms. Marvel on Disney + aired this morning and was just a fantastic finale that really nailed the landing on one of the most surprising, unexpected and undervalued Marvel Studios series on the streaming service since they began producing them.

And… in the biggest shock of all… Kamala Khan was revealed to have a “mutation” according to her best buddy and science whiz Bruno. As if that word wasn’t enough of a trigger for Marvel fans, the few chords of the X-Men Animated theme played over top of the scene to tell everybody… yep, we have just introduced “mutants” into the MCU and we did it in Ms. Marvel episode 6.

Not in Spider-Man: No Way Home. Not Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Not in WandaVision. Not in Loki. Not in Thor: Love and Thunder. Not in any of the other countless, constantly-speculated series or movies from Marvel Studios. Nope, in Ms. Marvel.

Of course, some people are still mad that she is not an Inhuman. Some people are still sore about them changing her origin and her powerset. None of that bothered me in the slightest because the real key to the character of Kamala Khan is not that she was an Inhuman, but that she had this large and supportive family. Honestly, I loved the way they adjusted her powers and we even got the “embiggen” in this episode, despite it being shown in a different style than in the comic pages.

Once again, with Kamala back in Jersey City, the main focus of this series, which has been going since the beginning, is that of family. The Pakistan episodes 4 & 5 still dealt with family, but felt a little weaker because we lost out on everyone except Kamala, Muneeba and Sana.

Episode six, back in Jersey City, took the best parts of the first three episodes (the art design, Bruno, Nakia, Yusuf) and the next two (increased powers, Kamala and her mom) and blended them into a great final episode.

Great family bits:

• Muneeba present Kamala with her new superhero suit.
• Kamala announces to her family that she was “Light girl” and they already knew because Muneeba told Yusuf and he had it on speaker.

• Yusuf, sitting on the roof of their house, telling what the name “Kamala” meant and it leading to Ms. Marvel.
• Aamir appears from out of nowhere to watch over Kamala because his mother wanted him to and Kamala says “Superheroes don’t need chaperones”
• Muneeba says to a concerned Yusuf about trusting Kamala, a switch from episode 1.
• Kamala and Nakia make up.
• Zoe joins the group at the school and becomes a big part of the “Home Alone” bit.

I thought the battle with Damage Control at the end was tremendous. I loved the use of the powers and how Kamran’s powers were both potent and out of control. This series was not about the villains, which is why there are several people who feel like there was something missing. The whole storyline with the ClanDestine and Damage Control was meant to give them a plot point. This show was about the Kamala and her friends and family.

I say this every week, but Iman Vellani is absolutely a treasure, and she needs to be protected at all cost. I have heard some people criticize her performance in some of the more emotional moments from episode 5, dismissing it because of her lack of experience. I hope that, as she learns more of the craft, she does not lose the realism, the authentic nature of Iman Vellani that she showed every time she was on the screen. I truly believe that Iman Vellani could be the new Robert Downey Jr. of the MCU as we move along into Phase 5 and beyond.

And then there was a mid-credit scene featuring Carol Danvers that really was confusing, but was clearly a set up for The Marvels film coming in July 2023. Bri Larson looked fabulous in her new costume.